Choices
by Mikaia
Summary: A prequel of sorts to A Brief Encounter with the Past. How Kit loses his wizardry. Chapter 4 is finally up! Please forgive me for being plotless! Please R&R!
1. The Beginning

**A/N: Okay, so a bunch of the people who read A Brief Encounter with the Past have been asking me The Question: How the bleep did Kit lose his wizardry?!? I said maybe I would do a fanfic about it someday. So, here you go. Please note: it will probably be awhile between updates because I'm busy and I don't exactly have a plot worked out yet. Enjoy!**

They were walking in the woods behind Nita's house, deliberately making for the green bowl between the highways where they had first met, and done their first joint piece of wizardry.

When they reached it, they lay back on the ground and looked at the trees.

It's nice to be away from Dair sometimes, Nita said. Kit grunted in agreement. Nita continued pensively, she's not as much of a brat as she used to be. Must be the responsibility. And her power crash.Are you okay? You're not very talkative.

Nita frowned. There's something on your mind. You can tell me, you know.Really, I'm fine.

Nita was not convinced, but she decided to let the subject drop.

It's also nice not to be on active duty. It feels like we haven't gotten any rest the past few months.Although I probably shouldn't say that, because as soon as I look at the manual again, guess what our status will be...

Kit sat up. Maybe we should check.Ohhhh, Kit! Nita whined playfully. Let's just relax.

He ignored her and pulled out his manual, paging through to his listing. He scanned the familiar text, past name, address, power level, his rank: until he saw status.

Active.

Kit sighed.

Active, right? I told you. Check mine.

He knew it would be the same, but even so he riffled the pages back to Nita's listing. Callahan, Nita...etcetera, etcetera....status:

Vacationing.


	2. Inquiries

**A/N: Chapter 2! I know it's short too; that's because I'm still working on the plot. Forgive me! They will get longer, I swear! Enjoy!**

ReadingRedhead: Thanks! Like I said, the chapters should get longer.

NitaGirl99: Here's your update!

none: Positive is good! :-D

Keep reviewing! Enjoy!  
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Kit looked at the listing again, dumbfounded, in hopes it would have changed. But it remained the same.

_Vacationing?? _Sure, they had done separate assignments before, but this was really strange. That was when they were a little distanced, but there were no problems now.

Right?

Nita looked at him, a little unnerved. "Kit? What's wrong?"

"See for yourself."

She sat up, looked where he pointed, frowned. "I'm vacationing? But you're on active!" She looked at him, perplexed, and he heard the same thoughts that he had had a moment earlier going through her mind, loud and confused. Aloud she said, "Why are They doing this?"

They were the Powers That Be. One of their many responsibilities was giving wizards responsibilities. And Nita and Kit were partners: they went on assignment together, generally. Sure, there had been special cases, but not at a time like this.

"I have no idea," Kit replied.

"Maybe we should go see Tom and Carl....they're partners....you think they were ever in a situation like this?"

Kit shrugged. "Let's go and find out."

__

A few minutes later they were sitting in Tom and Carl's living room, Kit's manual open on the table. Tom was staring at their listings. After a moment he looked up at their expectant faces.

"Hm." he said.

"Is this normal?" Nita asked.

"It can be. You guys have had separate assignments before." They nodded. "Maybe it's just Kit They need for something. Maybe Nita couldn't help out on this. Your specialties are pretty much in limbo right now; they're not as clearly defined as they were when you began."

"But wouldn't that mean that They would be more likely to need both of us?" Kit inquired.

"Not necessarily," Tom said. "It could be just a routine job, or it could be more of a...test."

"A test?" Nita said. "We thought the Powers were maybe testing our partnership on our other separate this be the same thing?"

Tom nodded. "Maybe, but I'm more inclined to think that it could be a test of independence. You guys work together most of the time. The Powers might need to see how you--right now you, Kit--work on your own."

Nita and Kit looked at one another nervously, Kit most of all.

Kit said silently, _On my own?_

I don't know, Nita said, and she felt anxious to Kit. _You've had assignments by yourself before._

But this seems different. A test? Do I need to be tested?

I don't know.

__


	3. Surprises

Alone in his room, Kit lay on his bed and stared at the ceiling, thinking.

_A test. _

What in the universes could that mean?

He got up and checked his manual, but nothing had changed. Sighing, he got up and went downstairs. It was late, and he liked to eat cereal at night. And right about now Kit thought he could use a nice soothing bowl of cornflakes.

Carmela was down there, watching TV. Kit poured himself the cornflakes and wandered over, spooning them into his mouth. "What are you watching? Alien shopping channels?"

Carmela, without taking her eyes off the television, replied, "Nope."

That would have been normal, except that she said it in the Speech.

"'Mela?" Kit said, genuinely surprised. "Since when do you talk to me in the Speech?"

"Huh?"

"Carmela!" Kit cried, exasperated. "Why are you talking to me in the Speech?"

"Oh, did I? Whoops, my mistake."

Kit shook his head. Carmela was picking up on wizard tendencies more and more lately, and it made him uncomfortable. What was next? Actual wizardry? He shivered. He didn't like to think about what would happen if Carmela became a wizard. _She has to be too old by now,_ he thought, by way of consolation. _I don't have to worry._ He looked at the back of Carmela's head and, sighing, went to put his bowl in the sink.

Ten minutes later he was back in his room, restlessly flipping through the manual. He checked his listing again. _Rodriguez, Christopher_....blah blah blah...._Active status._ Something drew his eye to the listing about his, and what he saw nearly stopped his heart.

_Rodriguez, _he read. _Carmela. _

**A/N: I know! It's short! I'm sorry, I can't get past the short-chappie mindset. But there will be more soon, I promise!  
Anyway, what do you think?? Carmela's a wizard? Uh-oh....:-D Review please! P.S.: I wasn't expecting things to turn out this way! I realized I needed to update, and while I was sitting in front of the computer, inspiration struck! Sorry for the shortness again but I love suspense! Ahahahahah....review please and you'll get more!**


	4. Questions

A/N: Finally here with an update! I'm sorry it took so long, I'm just so busy! Forgive me!  
Thanks for all the nice reviews!

P.S.: I think I've corrected the problem with the numbers...for those of you who never saw this, there were numbers wherever apostrophes and quotation marks were supposed to be, but I think I've corrected the problem.  
-

In shock, Kit picked up his manual, turned towards the door to his room, opened it-nearly knocking himself out in the process-stumbled through the hallway, and tripped down the stairs into the living room where Carmela still sat, watching TV with a passive expression on her face. All the while his mind was almost blank. Standing there, staring at her, Kit finally worked out the kinks in the nerves connecting his mouth and his brain and said, "Carmela."

She looked over. Smiled. "Ah," she said. "I see you've found out."

"Wha-wha-how is this _possible?_" Kit sputtered.

Carmela's smile stretched. Kit could tell she was enjoying seeing him minus any composure. But Kit couldn't do anything about that at the moment.

"Carmela," he managed to say, "what the _hell_ is going on!"

"I took the Oath"

"Oh Christ," Kit murmured to himself. "Yeah, I figured that out. But how-what-why didn't I know about this? Do you have a manual? Where did you find it? How long has it been since you took the Oath? Do Tom and Carl know? Do Mom and Dad know? Have you been on your Ordeal? _Why didn't I know about this?_"

Carmela held up one finger and pressed the mute button on the remote with her other hand. The TV fell silent. "Slow down there, little bro," Carmela said, and Kit could tell she was trying not to laugh. The thought made him angry as well as immeasurably confused. He hated being reminded that she was older than him, and this-not knowing something about what had been special, what had been _his_ was almost unbearable.

Carmela said, "You didn't know about this because I didn't tell you, and anyway it hasn't been long. Not long enough for me to go on my Ordeal. And I don't have a manual like you have, that storybook thing." She flapped her hand at him. "Mine's a little more...sophisticated." Reaching into her sweatshirt pocket, she pulled out a small palm pilot. "See?"

_What next?_ Kit thought.

"Mom and Dad don't know. Tom and Carl do. As for how I found it and how I took the Oath...well...that can wait."

"No, it can't. Tell me, Carmela."

"No, I don't think I will."

"You _have_ to."

"No, I don't think so."

Kit decided not to waste his time with this-even if she didn't tell him, he would find out somehow.

Carmela was smiling at him again, mischievously. "It's going to be quite a test for you, isn't it? Your big sister a wizard."

A test.

It all came back to Kit. He remembered discovering that he was on active and Nita was not, and the meeting with Tom and Carl. A _test_. _They must have known then-it was only a short time ago_, Kit thought. _So that's what it means. And it must have something to do with her Ordeal, if she hasn't been on it yet. Is this going to be like what we did with Dari? Ugh, I hope not-that was an ordeal for everyone involved. Including the Lone Power. Oh Lord, what am I going to do? _

Call Nita.


End file.
